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Ms. JD is currently seeking applications for our 2020 Writers in Residence Program. The Writers in Residence program was started in 2010 and is a select group of practicing attorneys, alternative career individuals, pre-law students, current law students, and other professionals who contribute monthly articles for one year to the Ms. JD blog on a topic of their choosing. Some blog titles this year were: "The Mental Load: Learning to Say No", "Five Tips to Maximize Your Efficiency When In-House", "Why Can’t Law Firms Retain Their Female and Minority Lawyers? Because Conformity is Exhausting", "Purpose Over Paycheck" and many many…

Do you have crazy social media skills? Is your smart phone always ready to Tweet, Pin, and Post? Do you have a passion for women helping women? If you answered yes to these questions, you might be just the person we are looking for! Ms. JD is seeking a part-time Social Media Coordinator to join us as an independent contractor to help build and manage our social media outreach strategies. As an independent contractor, the Social Media Coordinator will exercise her or his own independent judgment and discretion to support Ms. JD’s online presence. What will you be doing? As…

Ms. JD is proud to announce this year’s outstanding class of 2019 Fellows! This year’s fellows are from schools from coast to coast and present a broad spectrum of experience and legal interests. The 2019 Ms. JD Fellowship Winners are: Maia Bartee, University of North Texas at Dallas College of Law Aubre Dean, Syracuse University College of Law Idia Egonmwan, Howard University School of Law Cristina Gil, American University Washington College of Law Alana Glover, University of Baltimore School of Law Candace Goldman, Southern University Law Center Nina Neff, University of Wisconsin Law School Rima Sawhney, California Western School of Law …

As I mentioned in my first blog post, I experienced heightened self-awareness about my blue-collar roots once I entered the legal profession. For this month’s blog post, I wanted to share some of my awkward workplace encounters involving food. I am fully aware that these awkward food encounters are trivial in comparison to larger socioeconomic issues such as structural inequality. However, I think it’s important for us first-generation lawyers to share our personal experiences, frustrations, and lessons learned. As a newly minted lawyer, I found that the majority of my coworkers appeared to possess sophisticated palates and expansive culinary vocabularies. Casual lunchtime conversations typically revolved around food (in addition to work…

When someone asks what in-house practice is like, I often reply that it is like drinking from a firehose. The legal department is the starting and ending point for a lot of projects and issues, and tackling everything that hits your desk without a game plan can feel daunting. While everyone takes a different approach to managing their workload, I’ve outlined a few tips that I’ve initiated during my in-house practice that help me maximize efficiency while in the office. 1. Keep Organized. Staying on top of your various task lists, emails, meeting invites, updates and follow-ups can feel like…

Law firm greed. I have been writing about the negative impact of greed in the law profession since 2016. It was then that I first discussed how the greed manifested by large law firms is undercutting the professionalism of the business of law. Those comments appeared in an article I penned for Corporate Counsel in its September issue that year, and I have discussed the concepts many times since in articles and remarks to legal audiences. In essence, I argue that it was the greed of Wall Street that brought our economy to its knees in 2008, and it will be the…

As millennials, we’re certainly interested in pursuing our careers and investing in our professional development. But we also are interested in doing more than just “work”—we want to find ways to give back to our communities and help change them for the better. This month, we wanted to focus on how, as millennial attorneys, we can emphasize the purpose or meaning in our careers over just receiving a paycheck. As attorneys (or future attorneys!) we have some unique opportunities, including: Pro Bono. Nearly every state bar encourages attorneys to do pro bono work, and some even have a mandatory reporting…

Last week's blog addressed the realities of non-equity partnership. As pointed out in that blog, there is a lot of difference between equity partnership and the increasing non-equity partnership cohort. If you have to refresh your memory, this might be a good time to do it because family planning for women lawyers builds on some of the themes of that blog. For example, even though non-equity partnership may not include all that women lawyers are seeking, it could be a fine landing place for them while they are trying to make motherhood and lawyering work. When making that decision for…

Law school can be extremely daunting to someone who’s shy and introverted, like me. I was always painfully quiet, even too shy to call and order a pizza. At first, everything about pursuing a career as an attorney looks like an introvert’s nightmare. Oral arguments and the Socratic method? No, thank you. Before you run in the other direction, understand that you can absolutely do this. It might take time and a lot of patience (mostly with yourself), but a bright and fulfilling legal career is well within reach. The key is to take everything one step at a…

Networking has become the primary source of maintaining business connections and seeking business opportunities at national and international level. In the field of legal and compliance, Networking provides a good ROI in the form of name, fame, and business. With the help of Networking, communication among clients and employers has become boundary-less. On this, Houston attorney Joe Stephens mentions, “networking has done its job exclusively.” However, according to the law and order statistics, one in four attorneys do not give any attention to Networking. It allows their circle of potential employers to stay small and limited. It is a loss.…

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The views and opinions of the contributors on this website do not necessarily state or reflect those of the Ms. JD Corporation.